Never mind

Via MLB Trade Rumors, the Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that Jayson Werth is headed to Liberty Town:

A baseball source said yesterday that the Phillies have come to an agreement with outfielder Jayson Werth, … (who) will have to pass a physical before he signs any contract, which could happen as early as (Tuesday). Contract terms were not available.

That’s too bad. It would have been intriguing to have him bat in the No. 2 hole ahead of Albert Pujols. At least there’s precedent for a guy from Springfield playing for the Phillies.

Werth the wait

Among the casualties of Tuesday’s non-tender deadline is erstwhile Dodgers outfielder Jayson Werth.

The Cardinals are said to be interested in him:

To add depth to the outfield, the Cardinals are checking into the health of Jayson Werth. The grandson of former Cardinal shortstop Dick “Ducky” Schofield missed 2006 with a wrist injury.

Werth would make a fine addition to the Cardinals corps of outfielders. Although he’s logged the most time in left field, he can play the other two spots, and he actually can catch a fly ball. *coughChrisDuncancough*

Because he’s battled some injuries during his career, Werth’s career line of .245/.333/.420 doesn’t look outwardly gaudy. But during his 2004 campaign with the Dodgers, he put together a .262/.338/.486 line in 89 games. And before injuries took their toll in 2005, he had shown a marked improvement in his walk rate. His minor-league numbers also bear out an ability to take walks.

So where might he play? Well, he’s got the potential to be a perfect platoon partner with Chris Duncan. In 2004, Werth torched lefthanded pitching to the tune of .290/.377/.624. If Tony La Russa wants to sit Jim Edmonds against lefties, Werth could supply more TLR-approved “damage” than So Taguchi.

He’s a natural athlete, as well. As Derrick Goold mentioned above, Werth is the grandson of Ducky Schofield as well the nephew of former Angels shortstop Dick Schofield. His mother, Kim Schofield Werth, was a multiple-time state-champion sprinter and long-jumper in high school in the 1970s, and his stepdad is former major-leaguer Dennis Werth.

It also would be extra cool to root for a guy from your hometown. Werth hails from Springfield and graduated from nearby Chatham Glenwood High School.

My dad, a longtime baseball and football official in central Illinois, raves about Werth. He umpired many of Werth’s high school games and says Werth is one of the nicest, most with-it kids he’d ever met in his 30-plus years of umpiring.

Sounds just like a Cardinals kind of player.

Cardinals rumored to be going after Alyssa Milano’s former boyfriend

No, not that former boyfriend of Alyssa Milano.

It’s this former boyfriend of Alyssa Milano.

Yup, according to a Bernie Miklasz post in his STLToday forum, the Cardinals are said to be reviewing Carl Pavano’s medical records, perhaps in prelude to a trade. You might remember Pavano from such home runs as Mark McGwire’s 70th in 1998.

Any deal would come down to which team would eat the most of Pavano’s remaining $22.95 million over the next two years, which is quite a sum of money for a guy who hasn’t pitched in 18 months.

When he has been on the mound, he’s been extremely decent, owning a career ERA+ of 100 and a K/BB rate of 2.33. His lifetime 1.42 G/F ratio would certainly pique Dave Duncan’s interest. Keeping him on the mound, though, has proved a challenge for any team but the Marlins, who have benefited from Pavano’s only 200+-inning seasons.

Having not pitched since June 2005, it would seem that Pavano’s value is about as low as the president’s approval rating. It wouldn’t make any sense for the Yankees to trade him now. To do so would mean they would have to pay most of what’s left on his deal and accept little more than a large order of toasted ravioli in return.

But that doesn’t stop Fat Strat at Gateway Redbirds, who went buckwild with the Fangraphs in trying to find a parallel between Pavano and our man Chris Carpenter.

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You may have noticed that posting here at The 26th Man has been sporadic as of late. That likely will continue until the warm light of Spring Training melts away the cold, dark, terrible winter.

In the meantime, I invite you to check out my other blog, which is in the same vein as this one except not about baseball.

All’s quiet on the winter front

The Winter Meetings so far have been slow-going. Here’s the best of what’s Cardinals-related:

**According to Matthew Leach, the Cardinals and Walt Jocketty are telling themselves they are in the running for erstwhile Giant Jason Schmidt.

Schmidt’s agents, the Hendricks brothers, say Schmidt wouldn’t necessarily not go to the Midwest and that a three-year deal is not a hindrance.

We’ll see. One could speculate that Chris Carpenter’s extension may have laid the groundwork for a run at Schmidt, i.e., the team can offer Schmidt some big bucks now that Carp is getting his. That sort of thing.

**Ken Rosenthal says the Cardinals offered Vicente Padilla four years before he took three years from the Rangers.

Arbitrary moves

(UPDATE 10:49 pm: The broken links are now fixed. I am a dumbass.)

Friday was the deadline for teams to offer their free agents arbitration, and of the several Cardinals eligible, only Jeff Suppan and Mark Mulder had the offer extended.

That Suppan and Mulder were offered arbitration is not surprising, nor that Jeff Weaver wasn’t isn’t either.

Weaver made $8.325M base in 2006 and had he been offered arbitration, he likely would have accepted. He certainly would have been awarded more than his 2006 base. Because both sides have expressed interest in Weaver’s return, an offer not substantially higher than last year’s likely would have negated any goodwill as far as re-signing him goes.

Getting back to Suppan and Mulder, I think that the arbitration offers mean both are as good as gone. Despite his career league-averageness, Suppan’s postseason heroics will mean that someone will throw mad dollars in his direction. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said last week that the Pirates are gunning for Suppan, although the figures quoted there ($8M-$9M) may be on the low side. Other teams with reported interest include the Giants and the Blue Jays.

Suppan’s status as a Type A free agent means that if/when another team signs him, the Cardinals would/will receive the team’s first-round draft pick and and a supplemental pick.

Mulder is receiving attention from all over the league as well: Arizona is totally hot for him, as is Tampa Bay. Other teams rumored to be interested include San Diego and Baltimore.

While Mulder is coming off of surgery and won’t be ready to pitch until later in the season, some team is likely to offer him multiple, guaranteed years to separate themselves from teams offering a one-year, incentived deal, which the Cardinals are likely to do.

Lest you think a multiple-year deal for a pitcher coming off of serious shoulder surgery amounts to lunacy, a somewhat similar deal was struck back in 2003. After he shredded his elbow the previous season, the Yankees gave Jon Lieber two years guaranteed, the first of which was for $300K while he rehabbed his elbow. The second year paid him $2.45M, although the Yankees declined their $8M option for 2005, when he eventually signed with the Phillies.

While Mulder will probably get a similarly structured deal (two years guaranteed, club option for a third) he’ll certainly will get much, much more than Lieber’s $2.75M guarantee. He’s a Type B free agent, meaning the Cardinals would get just the supplemental pick if another team resigns him.

Roster churn

My fortnightly post is gonna be a quick one.

Per Bernie Miklasz on the STLToday forums (tip of the hat to LBoros):

Adam Kennedy in as 2B; can’t verify money… (reportedly 3-15).
Kip Wells in the back end of the rotation…
Gary Bennett re-signed as backup catcher…
Eli Marrero signed to a minor-league deal.

Can’t say I’m upset or disagree with any of the above signings.

It’s nice that there will some stability at the keystone for the next few years. Kennedy, you will recall, was traded (along with the inimitable Kent Bottenfield) in 2000 to Anaheim for Jim Edmonds. Offensively, he seems roughly analogous to the other second-basemen that management has been trotting out the past few years. His walk rate is no great shakes, and he’s not exactly thunderous with the lumber, so I imagine he’ll fill the No. 7 hole in the batting order. I find it more difficult to get a handle on a player’s defense without watching him. But respected baseball researcher David Pinto at Baseball Musings puts Kennedy in the lower half of major-league second basemen.

Kip Wells appears to be the Dave Duncan Pound Puppy™ for 2007: He’s a mid-career groundballer recently beset by injuries, pitching only 44.1 innings in 2006.

Gary Bennett is Gary Bennett, and welcome back Eli Marrero.

Gordo mails it in

After a refreshing break from blogging to bask in the afterglow of the World Series, I return to the Cardinals blogosphere with my fingers-cut-out gloves, warming my hands over the burn barrel that is MLB’s free-agent frenzy.

You’re thrilled, I know.

The autumn GM meetings are coming to a close, and not much has come of the meetings save for a couple of low-level trades.

The real action begins with the winter meetings, held this year in Orlando, and St. Louis’ own Jeff Gordon runs down the names that could be switching teams come December in his Free-Agent Shopping Guide.

Unfortunately for Gordo, either he wrote this like three weeks ago and nobody bothered to update it before it was posted, or this was an extremely lazy, half-assed and at times incredibly stupid attempt to inform people. You know, like the way we do here at The 26th Man.

The column contains numerous factual errors and a few misspelled names, the endless trumpeting of things like pitchers’ won-loss records and hitters’ batting averages and a near-total ignorance of meaningful things like, oh, slugging and on-base percentages. You know, things that are relevant to today’s game.

It doesn’t take long for the bull to start flowing, so strap on your hip boots, folks… it runs deep:

Daisuke Matsuzaka, SP: The Red Sox reported spent $45 million just for the right to negotiate with the Japanese star. Signing may cost another $30 million over three years.

“Reported spent $45 million”? Don’t be fatuous, Jeffrey. This column was posted a full day after it was reported that Matsuzaka was posted to the Red Sox for $51.1 million. I guess you didn’t bother to check your employer’s Web site regarding the Red Sox bid. You’re also delusional if you think Scott Boras will let him sign for a mere 3/$30M.

Juan Pierre, CF: He was really, really happy when the Twins exercised their option on Hunter. Pierre made the most of last season, batting .292 and swiping 58 bases for the otherwise lifeless Cubs.

Sure, he made the most of last season, if that’s what you mean by him having a below-league-average OBP and leading the league in outs (ain’t cherry-picking stats fun?). This cat had only one more base on balls than our own David Eckstein despite playing in 40 more games. And Gordo lists Pierre as a “high-end free agent.” Zuh?

Vincente Padilla, SP: He is a big, sturdy 29-year-old coming off a 15-10 season for the Phillies.

Um, Jeff? Padilla’s first name is “Vicente,” and he played for the Rangers. At least you got his record correct. So you got that going for you, which is nice.

Moises Alou, OF: Sure, he will turn 41 next season. But Alou swatted 22 homers and 25 homers in 345 at bats last season while hitting .301. We don’t want to tell Walt Jocketty how to run his team, but he would be a perfect semi-regular for the Cardinals in left field.

Alou swatted 22 homers and 25 homers last season, eh? That’s the quietest 47-homer campaign in history then. The Alou blurb began a run of subtle homer references, which continued with…

Luis Gonzalez, OF: From his perch in the FOX broadcast booth, Gonzalez campaigned for a Cardinals gig next season. He hit 52 doubles last season, along with 15 homers, and he would offer a significant defensive upgrade over Chris Duncan. He saw the success Larry Walker had in St. Louis at the end of his career and that appeals to him.

I’ll concede that Gonzo would probably have fewer adventures in fielding fly balls, but as a wise man once said, “If ya ain’t got the hose, the water just won’t come out.” And if by the “success Larry Walker had” Gordo means the 60 games Walker missed in 2005, the Cardinals could probably do without that kind of success.

David Dellucci, OF: He followed a 29-homer season in Texas with a .292 season in Philadelphia…

Nothing like trying to make your case with apples and oranges.

Gil Meche, SP: During his last four Mariners seasons, he won 44 games and started 106 games. He got that ERA down to 4.48 last season, so he set himself up pretty well.

Obviously, Gordo doesn’t read Viva El Birdos.

Greg Counsell, SS: It too much to ask him to play every day, but he can still fill in for prolonged periods and provide some spark.

Greg Counsell? Awesome.

Ronnie Belliard, 2B: We headed back to Cleveland, where, apparently, he has a LOT of favorite restaurants.

We headed back to Cleveland? I had no idea that Gordo and tha Gangsta of Glove were pals. I’m thinking he meant “Was headed back…” And way to slip a fat joke in there, Gordo. Pure class.

I haven’t even mentioned the many other instances of him trumpeting the fact that such-and-such pitcher had “back-to-back 12-win campaigns” or said batter “hit .301 at age 39. Do people still care about pitchers’ wins? Do people see a .300 batting average and still shit themselves with glee?

If it seems I’m picking on ol’ Jeff Gordon, well… I am. There’s really no excuse for him to turn in a piece so riddled with errors and inaccuracies. He put not only his name on it, but that of his main employer to say nothing of the fine folks at FoxSports.com. It just reflects poorly on everyone involved.

The guy is still Young

Rotoworld reports that the Orioles have designated 1B Walter Young for assignment to make room for Kevin Millar.

And as Erik from Play a Hard 9 promoted the cause that is Russ Branyan, I’d like to do the same for Young. Walt is a big (6-5, 290) lefty 1B who has a career minor-league batting line of .286/.344/.489. I’ve yet to find a site that shows minor-league splits, but his 2005 major-league splits show 30 AB vs. righties and only three vs. lefties (but he did manage two hits). I guess that answers that question.

But still, for a team that has invited Brian Daubach to camp, the Cards could do worse than to take a chance on Young. They extended that courtesy to his 2005 Ottawa Lynx teammate Ramon Nivar. Maybe Danny Sheaffer down at Memphis could get Walt to lose a few pounds and teach him to play outfield. It’s not as if there’s an abundance of power bats in the pipeline, anyway.

Weaver wobbles

Ken Rosenthal over at FoxSports.com reports that the Cardinals presumably are one of the teams rumored to be pursuing former Dodger Jeff Weaver.

I sure hope he doesn’t end up here. I’ve never cared for him as a pitcher even when he was with the Tigers. When he was traded to the Yankees, I thought that was a nightmare waiting to happen. Sure enough; Game 4 of the 2003 World Series sorta proved that inkling correct. It seems that if he gets hit around a bit, he loses his confidence and starts chucking it up there just to get the hook.

I happened to catch one of his starts in 2004 when the Dodgers were at the Stadium. The inning in particular (a shout-out to Retrosheet for jogging my memory) was the fifth, when the Cards managed to string together some hits off him, and with each successive baserunner, it seemed that his shoulders slumped more and more and more. His body language gave it away. Anyway, it was bases-loaded situation in the fifth, with the crowd really getting behind the team. He steps off and asks for a new ball to try to quiet the crowd. All that did was turn the cheers into boos. He rushed his delivery and left a pitch up to the inimitable Hector Luna, who stroked it into center to score Lankford and Edmonds.

He seems to be the way I was when I pitched Little League. The slightest bit of adversity flusters him, which leads to more adversity, which in turns flusters him more, etc.

In passing on the link to Rosenthal’s story Thursday, lboros at Viva El Birdos says the Cardinals theoretically could afford the free-agent Weaver. To do so, the team would have to trade Jason Marquis. lboros then astutely points out that it would be counterproductive given that Marquis is a similar pitcher and he’s already here.

And speaking of similar pitchers, I checked out Weaver’s comparables on Baseball Reference. While Marquis wasn’t on the list, the following dudes were: No. 7 was Our Own Sidney Ponson, and No. 3 was Brett F. Tomko. Eep! Anybody who hasn’t repressed their memories of Tomko’s 2003 (the first half, anyway) for the Cardinals will shudder in horror at the recall. Those kinds of numbers we don’t need, certainly not for the amount of money he’ll end up getting from a more pitching-starved team.

Aruba’s most wanted

The Cardinals have written another chapter in their bizarre novel titled “How I Spent My 2005 Offseason.” This chapter is called “Sidney Ponson.”

That Sidney Ponson. Since it’s so near Christmas, I’ll spare you the horror of listing his stats for the past two seasons.

Indeed, Sir Drinks-a-lot signed a one-year deal with St. Louis on Wednesday. Reports say it will pay him a $1M base, with $1.5M more possible through incentives based on the number of starts, as well as a full no-trade clause. On hearing the news, my first thought was, “Dude, Sidney M.F. Ponson?” My second thought was, “Well, a trade for an outfielder must be in the works.” That’s the conventional wisdom, anyway. My third thought is that maybe management isn’t keen on gift-wrapping the No. 5 for Anthony Reyes, and that Ponson represents competition of sorts for that No. 5, and as such, Jason Marquis might not be going anywhere. But as I prepare to post this, my latest thought is that if the club is giving him incentives based on the number of starts AND a full NTC, then they are 100% committed to having Ponson in the rotation. That puts Marquis on the block or Reyes in the minors.

But if a trade for an outfielder is in the works, one would have to think the Reyes boy is more attractive than Marquis in any deal. He’s young, cheap and has a much higher ceiling than Marquis, the main name that has been thrown around various rumor musings. Marquis stands to make $5M or so in 2006 (with impending free agency after ’06), either in arbitration or in a one-year deal to keep him out, so any deal involving him is not likely to bring an impact OF in return unless multiple players are involved, complicating things.

We here at The 26th Man are pretty simple, so for fun, let’s throw out some possibilities. I tried to pick teams that not only had an outfield surplus but also holes in their rotations. Some were one or the other. And, of course, these are my best guesses; some proposals maybe woefully but unintentionally lopsided. As always, feel free to comment. Here goes:

Marquis to the Brewers for Carlos Lee and cash: Straight up, this deal would involve a rather large payroll bump for the Cardinals: The Brewers picked up El Caballo’s 2006 option at $8.5M, while Marquis will get about $5M. Like Marquis, Lee is a free agent after the 2006 season. Given that, one could infer at least similar or better stats in 2006 to what he put up in 2005: .265/.324/.487, with 32 homers and 114 RBI. He also hit 31 HR each in 2003 and 2004. He hits righties and lefties roughly the same, and in 2005 hit quite a bit better away from Miller Park. He’s not particularly handy with the leather, but man, would he look good in the Cards’ cleanup spot.

Milwaukee has a couple of kids in Dave Krynzel and Brad Nelson (as well as Gabe Gross, whom they received in the Lyle Overbay trade) that could step in for Lee. As for Marquis, he could be Milwaukee’s No. 3 behind Ben Sheets and Doug Davis, and ahead of Chris Capuano and Dave Bush, also obtained from Toronto in the Overbay trade.

Marquis and cash to the Mets for Victor Diaz and a prospect: I’m gonna pretend I’m Ken Rosenthal and propose this one solely on the basis of geography. Marquis is from Shaolin (Staten Island, for those not in the know) and might relish the chance to pitch close to home, especially for a team as radically upgraded as the Mets. Diaz, meanwhile, went buckwild (.292/.432/.538 in April) during the early-season absence of Mike Cameron but quickly and harshly fell back to Earth after that scorching April. He finished the season .257/.329/.438 with 12 homers, 38 RBI and 41 runs in 313 PA.

The Mets don’t really have an opening in the rotation unless they were to move someone like Steve Trachsel or Kris Benson.

Marquis and cash? to the Phillies for Jason Michaels: Michaels’ name had been bandied about the Cardinals blogosphere during the winter meetings. He isn’t much of a homer threat, but he does have a pretty good walk rate. Plus, the Phillies’ acquisition of Aaron Rowand left Michaels’ without a starting job. He played all three OF spots in 2005, with the majority of innings coming in CF. One scenario could have Michaels holding down the fort in a corner, then taking over for Edmonds in center after 2007. He beat up lefthanded pitching in 2005 to the tune of a .323 BA and .854 OPS. His righty split was .289/.778, which certainly is acceptable. As a second-year arbitration-eligible player, he could get north of $900K in 2006.

Marquis, meanwhile, might thrive in Philly, given his groundball tendencies. Citizen’s Bank Park needs guys who can keep the ball on the ground. He could slot in after Brett Myers, Jon Lieber and Cory Lidle, and ahead of Gavin Floyd.

Marquis to the Rangers for Kevin Mench: This particular deal also has been talked up as of late in the blogs. Mench doesn’t walk all that much but also doesn’t strike out very much for someone with decent pop. While he knocks around LH pitching (.296, .980!), he’s not as destructive against righties (.255, .743), and his home/away splits favor the Bandbox in Arlington. Mench is still two years away from free agency, but if Austin Kearns (a player similar to Mench per Baseball Reference) could get $900K in 2005, he ought to be able to move into that neighborhood in 2006.

The Rangers are dying for pitching, so they certainly might welcome Marquis’ talent at keeping the ball on the ground.

Fire away with your comments.